Tuesday, May 19, 2009

NETIZENS are up in arms over a teacher's online posting of her students' poor English usage in their assignments on her Facebook account.

The female teacher, who teaches in a secondary school in the western part of Singapore, posted that she was "laughing at how creative students can be". She went on to list the numerous errors her students made in great detail, such as, "The mother is riding the son to school" and "The fish were swimming happily on the surface of the water".

A contributor, dissapoint, posted a screen grab of her comments and the students' mistakes to Stomp yesterday, saying: "I'm really disappointed with the calibre of our teachers. If I (were) the student...I would surely be discouraged and humiliated." As of last night, the post had been viewed at least 5,620 times.

Most students and teachers my paper spoke to say they do not agree with the teacher's action.

Polytechnic student Tay Shwu Yueh, 19, said: "The teacher is very immature and childish. Posting such errors only highlights her inability to teach well and does not reflect well on our education system."

Polytechnic lecturer Koh Joh Ting says: "It is definitely not ethical of the teacher to do that.

Students go to school to learn and we must give them the respect and space to make mistakes."

Stompers also cried foul, with one demanding the Ministry of Education (MOE) to "investigate and sack the teacher".

However, there are some Stompers who feel that the teacher had not done anything wrong.

Stomper iceman008 said: "If you guys visit Facebook and other social-networking sites that students set up to gossip about their teachers, then you will realise which party is the greater sinner... There are always two sides to a coin. Don't judge until you are well-informed."

Junior college student Lee Ailin, 17, said: "She did not pinpoint anyone in her posting."

A spokesman for MOE said: "Teachers should be rolemodels for their students and they are expected to uphold the integrity of the profession both in their professional and personal capacities."